Daily ETF Watch: 7 Funds To Launch Thurs

SSgA and iShares are starting June with a big bang of rollouts.

iShares and State Street Global Advisors are collectively launching seven new ETFs on Thursday, June 5, that focus on minimum volatility and quality stocks in the developed and emerging markets at a time when a slowdown in China and the Federal Reserve’s tapering of its bond-buying program is sending jitters throughout global markets.

Tomorrow’s seven-fund rollout raises to 87 the number of ETFs that have launched or will launch so far this year. More than 1,580 ETFs now populate the universe of U.S.-listed ETFs, and total assets are now at a record $1.805 trillion, according to data compiled by ETF.com Analytics.

iShares is launching three minimum volatility funds, while SSgA is launching four ETFs, three of them targeting the “quality” factor that seeks to isolate stocks of companies with consistently strong performance.

The seven launches come at a time when China, the world’s second-largest economy, is slowing in 2014 after years of double-digit growth. China’s Finance Minister Lou Jiwei has publicly stated that a growth rate of 7.2 percent would be adequate, even if it does fall short of an official target of “about” 7.5 percent. The country is shifting its economy away from exports and investments to a more consumption-oriented economy.

Also, the Fed is continuing to taper its bond-buying program, signaling that it is bullish on the current slow pace of the U.S. economic recovery, which many market observers said was thwarted in the first quarter thanks to severe winter weather conditions across much of the country.

iShares’ Min-Vol ETFs

iShares is hoping its latest trio of minimum volatility ETFs can help take some of the choppiness in equity markets off the table. The new funds include:

• iShares MSCI Japan Minimum Volatility ETF (JPMV)
• iShares MSCI Europe Minimum Volatility ETF (EUMV)
• iShares MSCI Asia ex-Japan Minimum Volatility ETF (AXJV)

All three ETFs will look to gain exposure to a broad range of securities within their respective markets with lower-volatility characteristics relative to the broader markets.

JPMV has an expense ratio of 0.30 percent, or $30 for every $10,000 invested, while EUMV has an expense ratio of 0.25 percent. AXJV has an expense ratio of 0.35.

iShares’ launches were announced via an NYSE communique.

SSgA’s Quality ETFs

State Street Global Advisors on Thursday, June 5, is also launching four smart-beta ETFs, which will screen for value, low volatility and quality stocks in developed and emerging markets. The newly proposed ETFs include:

• SPDR MSCI EAFE Quality Mix ETF (QEFA)
• SPDR MSCI Emerging Markets Quality Mix ETF (QEMM)
• SPDR MSCI World Quality Mix ETF (QWLD)

As well, SSgA is rolling out the SPDR Euro Stoxx Small Cap ETF (SMEZ) to focus on European small-cap securities at a time when developed European markets have not only been recovering from the region’s debt crisis, but are near all-time highs.

Associated fees for the ETFs were not yet made available.